Create and Use Rubrics for Activities and Essay Questions – Pearson Connexus Support

Use rubrics to provide detailed and meaningful grades and feedback.

A rubric is a scoring guide used to indicate activity expectations, possible performance outcomes, and the scores associated with them. Teachers can create rubrics with the activity editor in the Editor or the Clipboard. This article outlines both approaches.

Add a Rubric to an Activity Using the Editor

To add a rubric to a manually graded activity using the Editor :

Open the Activity editor for the desired activity.

Note: You can only create rubrics for activities that are manually graded. This means that they cannot be applied to an entire Assessment or Practice question activity.

Open the Settings tab.
On the Gradebook and submission card, select Rubric from the Score entry drop-down menu.
Select Add rubric underneath the drop-down menu.

Screenshot of the Editor. The Settings tab is selected. Numbered markers correspond with the bullets above.

You can:

Select a domain-wide Template rubric from the drop-down menu.
Choose Empty from the drop-down menu to build a rubric from scratch.

Select Add.

Next: Follow these instruction to create and edit a rubric with the rubric editor.

Screenshot of the Add Rubric card. Numbered markers correspond with the bullets above.

Add a Rubric to an Activity Using the Clipboard

To add a rubric to a manually graded Clipboard activity, create a Clipboard activity using these instructions.

While creating it, check the Gradable box to enable the 4 Edit gradebook settings for [Activity] step.

Screenshot of the Clipboard. Gradeable is selected. Numbered markers correspond with the bullets above.

On step 4 Edit gradebook settings for [Activity], select Rubric in the Score Entry drop-down menu.
Select Add rubric.

You can:
- Select a domain-wide Template rubric from the drop-down menu.
- Choose Empty from the drop-down menu to build a rubric from scratch.
Select Add.

Next: Follow these instruction to create and edit a rubric with the rubric editor.

Add a Rubric to an Assessment Essay Question

To add a rubric to Assessment Essay question:

Open the Assessment > Questions> Essay question > Score card.
Select Add rubric.

Screenshot of the Assessment Editor. The Questions tab is selected. Numbered markers correspond with the bullets above.

You can:
- Select a domain-wide Template rubric from the drop-down menu.
- Choose Empty from the drop-down menu to build a rubric from scratch.
Select Add.

Next: Follow these instruction to create and edit a rubric with the rubric editor.

Create a Rubric With the Rubric Editor

To build rubrics, you create Levels and Criteria.

Create Levels

Levels define the columns of the rubric table and represent possible levels of performance.

You can:

Add levels by selecting the plus sign that appears to the right of the levels fields.
Remove levels by selecting the x that appears above each level field.
Provide level titles by selecting the level's field and entering text. If you don't provide titles, level headers display Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, etc. By default, the levels build, left to right, from lowest scores to highest.

Screenshot of the Edit Rubric card. Numbered markers correspond with the bullets above.

Create Criteria

Criteria define the rows of the rubric and represent the behaviors that are being assessed.

You can:

Add criteria by selecting the plus sign that appears at the bottom left corner of the last criteria.
Remove criteria by selecting the x that appears to the right of each.
Name each criteria by describing the desired behavior in the Title fields above each. If you don't provide titles, the criteria headers display Criteria 1, Criteria 2, Criteria 3, etc.
Describe what a student needs to accomplish to earn each level's score within each behavior (criteria). Select the field and enter text.
Provide the maximum criteria composite score in the Max field. This value is automatically distributed evenly between the existing levels in the criteria and populates the Points fields and level headers within the criteria. You can edit the Points fields if you don't want the value distributed evenly, but you must do so after entering the Max value.

Select Save when you're finished.

Use the rubric to grade

Open the activity you want to grade using the Grade Editor.
The rubric you created appears under the Content tab.
For each criteria, select the description that best matches the student's performance, and the score automatically reflects your choice.
Select Leave Feedback below each dimension for which you want to provide feedback.
Select Submit score when you're done.

Screenshot of the Grade Editor. Gradeable is selected. Numbered markers correspond with the bullets above.

Additional articles

Tips

You can only create rubrics for activities that are manually graded. This means that they cannot be applied to an entire assessment and practice question activity, but they can be used for individual essay questions within those activities.

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